venerable style form and the avant-garde in mozart-s minor key

University of Massachusetts - AmherstScholarWorks@UMass Amherst

Masters Theses May 2014-current Dissertations and Theses

2014

Venerable Style, Form, and the Avant-Garde inMozarts Minor Key Piano Sonatas K. 310 and K.457: Topic and StructureAndrew L. MoylanUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst, [email protected]

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Recommended CitationMoylan, Andrew L., "Venerable Style, Form, and the Avant-Garde in Mozarts Minor Key Piano Sonatas K. 310 and K. 457: Topic andStructure" (2014). Masters Theses May 2014-current. Paper 35.

Venerable Style, Form, and the Avant-Garde in Mozarts Minor Key Piano Sonatas

K. 310 and K. 457: Topic and Structure.

A Thesis Presented

By

ANDREW MOYLAN

Submitted to the Graduate School of the

University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree of

MASTER OF MUSIC

May 2014

Music Theory

Copyright by Andrew Moylan 2014

All Rights Reserved

Venerable Style, Form, and the Avant-Garde in Mozarts Minor Key Piano Sonatas

K. 310 and K. 457: Topic and Structure.

A Thesis Presented

By

ANDREW MOYLAN

_____________________________

Stefan Caris Love, Chair

_____________________________

Jeffrey Swinkin, Member

_____________________________

Erinn Knyt, Member

_____________________________

Jeff Cox, Department Head

Department of Music and Dance

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank each of the members of my thesis committee, Dr. Stefan Caris Love,

Dr. Jeffrey Swinkin, and Dr. Erinn Knyt for their support and suggestions which have

enabled this project to exceed my expectations and opened up new horizons. I would also

like to acknowledge Dr. Gary Karpinski, who believed in my musical mind and

ambitions, and who ultimately supported me in reclaiming my future in music.

v

ABSTRACT

VENERABLE STYLE, FORM, AND THE AVANT-GARDE IN MOZARTS MINOR

KEY PIANO SONATAS K.310 AND K.457: TOPIC AND STRUCTURE.

MAY 2014

ANDREW LEE MOYLAN, B.A.P.S., THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

M.M., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST

Directed by: Dr. Stefan Caris Love

Although the topoi and elements of what has been described as the Venerable Style

(V.S.) are found in many places in Mozarts solo keyboard sonatas, the obsessive

juxtaposition of these elements against brilliant, concerted, Empfindsamer Stil, and Sturm

und Drang topoi can be shown to define the first and third movements of his minor key

piano sonatas K.310 and K.457. This thesis will investigate using the theoretical tools

developed by a range of Topic Theory authors such as Ratner (1980,) Allanbrook (1983,)

Hatten (2004,) and Monelle (2000, 2006,) a newly developed analytical concept known

as topical expansion, and the structural framework provided by Hepokoski and Darcy

(2006) to prove that the venerable topoi are not purely referential gestures, but are also

vital parts of the structural content of each of the sonatas and their respective single

movements. In line with Caplin (2005)s warning that the venerable and learned styles

are some of the only historically developed and generally accepted topoi with formal

(structural) ramifications, this thesis will argue that K.310 and K.457s surface content is

built largely upon the application, troping, and expansion of V.S. topoi in the key formal

regions given in Hepokoski and Darcy (2006). As a result of comparative analysis, a

further topical level of unity and compositional organization will be shown to be present

vi

in the works justifying Kinderman (2006) and Irving (2010)s conception of the works

stylistic affect as avant-garde and romantic in execution. Additionally, analysis of the

works strictly controlled topoi will show each work to be in opposition to Allanbrooks

conception of Mozarts music as a miniature theater of gestures, suggesting that their

austere affect is programmed at the topical level in addition to their tonal and formal

content (Allanbrook 1992, 130).

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................... iv

ASBTRACT .................................................................................................................................. v

LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... x

LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... xi

CHAPTER

1: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 1

The Piano Sonatas K. 310 and K. 457 ............................................................................... 1

Topic Theory: Background and Debate ............................................................................. 3

Topic Theory: Applicability to K. 310 and K. 457 .......................................................... 10

Hepokoski and Darcys Elements of Sonata Theory .................................................... 11

The Venerable Style ........................................................................................................ 12

Topical Troping and Expansion ...................................................................................... 16

Formal Organization and Structure ................................................................................. 19

2: ANALYSIS: PIANO SONATA IN A MINOR, K. 310, MOVEMENT 1 ............................... 20

(P) Primary Theme ......................................................................................................... 21

(TR) Transition .............................................................................................................. 23

(MC) Medial Caesura ..................................................................................................... 23

(S) Secondary Theme ..................................................................................................... 24

(EEC) Essential Expositional Closure ............................................................................ 26

Developmental Space ..................................................................................................... 27

Recapitulatory Transition ............................................................................................... 31

viii

Summary ........................................................................................................................ 33

3: ANALYSIS: PIANO SONATA IN C MINOR, K. 457, MOVEMENT 1 ............................... 36

(P) Primary Theme ......................................................................................................... 37

(TR) Transition .............................................................................................................. 39

(S) Secondary Theme ..................................................................................................... 41

Developmental Space ..................................................................................................... 43

Recapitulatory (P) Space ................................................................................................ 44

Coda ............................................................................................................................... 46

Summary ......................................................................................................................... 47

4: ANALYSIS: PIANO SONATA IN A MINOR, K. 310, MOVEMENT 3 ............................... 50

(Prf) Primary Theme- Rhythmic Cell 1 Above 2 ............................................................ 51

(TR) Transitional Space- Rhythmic Cell 1, 2 + 3 Above 2 ............................................ 53

(S1) Secondary Theme- Rhythmic Cell 1 Above 2 and 1 Above 3 ................................. 53

(S2) Rhythmic Cell 2 Above 1 and 3 Above 1 ................................................................ 55

(Prf) Space Restatement- Rhythmic Cell 1 Above 2 and Rhythmic Cell 1 Above 3 ....... 57

(Episode) ........................................................................................................................ 58

(TR)- Rhythmic Cell 1 and 3 Above 2 ........................................................................... 59

Recapitulatory (S) Space- Rhythmic Cell 2 Above 1, 1 Above 2, 1 Above 3, and 3 Above

1 ...................................................................................................................................... 59

Codetta ........................................................................................................................... 62

Summary ........................................................................................................................ 62

5: ANALYSIS: PIANO SONATA IN C MINOR, K. 457, MOVEMENT 3 ............................... 64

ix

(Prf1

) Primary Theme ...................................................................................................... 64

(TR) Transition ............................................................................................................... 66

(S) Secondary Theme ...................................................................................................... 66

(Prf) Space Restatement ................................................................................................... 69

(Episode) ........................................................................................................................ 69

Recapitulatory Space ....................................................................................................... 70

(C) Closing and Coda ..................................................................................................... 74

Summary ........................................................................................................................ 74

6: THE VENERABLE STYLE IN EACH SONATA AND IN ALL MOVEMENTS:

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................. 77

K. 310 Movements 1 and 3: Comparison ........................................................................ 77

K. 457 Movements 1 and 3: Comparison ........................................................................ 81

Conclusions: The Venerable Style in all Four Movements ............................................. 85

Avenues for Future Research .......................................................................................... 91

APPENDIX: LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AS GIVEN IN HEPOKOSKI AND DARCYS

ELEMENTS OF SONATA THEORY ......................................................................................... 93

BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................ 94

x

LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

1: Universe of Topics reproduced from Caplin after Agawu and Monelle. .............................. 7

2: K. 310, Movement 1. Summary of V.S. Features..................................................................... 35




6: K. 310 Movements 1 and 3. Summary of V.S. features ................................................... 78

7: K. 457 Movements 1 and 3. Summary of V.S. features ................................................... 82

8: Summary of V.S. features in K. 310 and K. 457s Movements 1 and 3 ................................... 86

xi

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

(K. 310 Movement 1)

2.1: Mm. 1-4. Initiating tonic pedal point ..........................................................................21

2.2: Mm. 5-7. Seufzer figures ............................................................................................22

2.3: Mm. 22-26. Transitional suspensions .........................................................................23

2.4: Mm. 16-22. Pedal-based material leading to medial caesura .....................................24

2.5: Mm. 22-26. Sequential imitation ................................................................................25

2.6: Mm. 28-32. Fuxian counterpoint with suspension chains ..........................................25

2.7: Mm. 35-42. Invertible counterpoint and evaded cadences ........................................26

2.8: Mm. 58-69. Turkish expansion of Fuxian counterpoint and pedal point. ..................28

2.9: Mm. 56-58. Expanded harmonic sequence. ................................................................30

2.10: Mm. 74-79. Expanded end of development half cadence ........................................30

2.11: Mm. 88-93. (P) theme and suspension chains .........................................................31

2.12: Mm. 94-96. Expanded transitional Seufzer figures. ................................................32

2.13: Mm. 109-112. Recapitulatory space compound melody ..........................................32

2.14: Mm. 116-123. Invertible counterpoint with Neapolitan Sixth interpolation ...........33

(K. 457 Movement 1)

3.1: Mm. 1-8. Rocket figure and inversion theme .............................................................37

3.2: Mm. 9-13. Suspension chain and passus duriusculus over initiating pedal ...............38

3.3: Mm. 13-16. Suspended Seufzer figure.. .....................................................................39

3.4: Mm. 13-16. Transitional rocket figure and imitation .................................................40

3.5: Mm. 44-50. Disruption via lament bass .....................................................................41

xii

3.6: Mm. 51-58. Supertonic interpolation .........................................................................42

3.7: Mm. 75-76. Rocket figure in imitation .......................................................................43

3.8: Mm. 83-94. Rocket Figure in imitation ......................................................................44

3.9: Mm. 118-124. Rocket stretto and Neapolitan diversion .............................................45

3.10: Mm. 139-148. Disrupted lament bass figures ..........................................................45

3.11: Mm. 168-173. Rocket figure in canon. .....................................................................46

3.12: Mm. 176-183. Final imitation figure and octave repetition ......................................47

(K. 310 Movement 3)

4.1: Rhythmic configurations.............................................................................................51

4.2: Mm. 1-8. Initiating pedal point and moto perpetuo texture ........................................52

4.3: Mm. 1-15. Melodic and harmonic inversion .............................................................52

4.4: Mm. 21-28. Transitional figure ..................................................................................53

4.5: Mm. 29-35. Harmonic inversion (S1) theme entrance ..............................................54

4.6: Mm. 37-44. Fauxbourdon contrapuntal sequence and elision ...................................54

4.7: Mm. 56-59. Contrapuntal mirror inversion ...............................................................55

4.8: Mm. 64-71. S1 Space-derived theme with rhythmic cell inversion ...........................55

4.9: Mm. 64-71. S2

Space theme with rhythmic cell inversion .........................................56

4.10: Mm. 87-95. Harmonic and melodic sequence with mirror inversion cells ...............56

4.11: Mm. 95-106. Free polyphony and expanded half cadence ......................................57

4.12: Mm. 127-142. Root position restatement of (S) Space Fauxbourdon theme .......57

4.13: Mm. 143-158. Musette-style episode theme on tonic pedal .....................................58

4.14: Mm. 203-210. Imitation figure ................................................................................60

4.15: Mm. 211-225. Cell 1 above 3 and Cell 3 above 1 Fauxbourdon theme ...............60

xiii

4.16: Mm. 226-231. Contrapuntal mirror inversion intensification ...................................61

4.17: Mm. 233-244. Invertible counterpoint at the octave ................................................61

4.18: Movement 3, mm. 245-252. Codetta imitation ........................................................62

(K. 457 Movement 3)

5.1: Mm. 1-8. (Prf1) Space Seufzer figure suspension chains ..........................................65

5.2: Mm. 16-25. (Prf2) Space pedal six-four and descending suspension-derived figure .66

5.3: Mm. 69-73. Change of bass suspension V.S. introduction ........................................67

5.4: Mm. 74-77. Lament bass figure and intensified suspensions ....................................67

5.5: Mm. 78-85. Lament bass figure imitation and intensified suspensions .....................68

5.6: Mm. 90-96. Imitative codetta motive ........................................................................68

5.7: Mm. 138-145. Imitative transitional material to (Episode) space .............................69

5.8: Mm. 146-154. Topically-expanded Seufzer theme ...................................................69

5.9: Mm. 157-166. Seufzer theme intensification to half cadence ...................................70

5.10: Mm. 175-179. Lament bass return ...........................................................................71

5.11: Mm. 191-196. Change of bass suspensions .............................................................71

5.12: Mm. 206-210. Fully chromatic expanded lament bass ............................................72

5.13: Mm. 211-217. Retransitional material .....................................................................72

5.14: Mm. 228-248. Expanded Empfindsamer Stil Seufzer figures .................................73

5.15: Empfindsamer Stil Seufzer expansion .....................................................................73

5.16: Mm. 228-248. Closing imitation gesture .................................................................74

1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

The Piano Sonatas K. 310 and K. 457

The sole minor key Piano Sonatas K. 310 and K. 457 by Wolfgang

Amadeus Mozart almost always elicit the same adjectives: dark, potent,

despairing, tragic, austere, fatalistic, and implacable.1 The Piano Sonata in A

Minor, K. 310, was composed in 1778 (probably in Paris) and first published in

1781, and the Piano Sonata in C Minor, K. 457, was composed in Vienna in 1784

and was published the following year. Their influence upon later composers, such

as Beethoven and Schubert (see Rosen 1998, Kinderman 2006, and Irving 2010),

is considered potent not just because of their dark affect, but also because of their

tight-knit construction and treatment of musical language. They are understood as

avant-garde and proto-romantic.2

Remarkably, however, theoretical explanations for these works shared

affect have never been explored in an extended manner. Most commentary is

limited to general statements regarding their difference in conception to the major

1 As a small sample: Kinderman (2006, 45), Badura-Skoda (1962), Hatten (2004, 240), and (Irving

2010, 8).

2 For example, K. 310 is described as iconic in status, and as The opening up of a new world

(Badura-Skoda, 1962), and as inhabiting a special position in Mozarts output (Kinderman 2006, 44). K. 457 is described similarly by Badura-Skoda as written in a new language and as The beginning of an epoch. K. 457 is also described by Irving as obtaining its own special status as a cultural object, which caught the attention of Beethoven, and as prefiguring the serious sonatas of Beethoven (Irving 2010, 99).

2

key piano sonatas, or reference to especially pungent short passages amongst their

many measures to explicate tangentially related theoretical concepts.3

What then created the impression amongst performers, aesthetic

commentators, and composers that the works are related to each other, yet

different from Mozarts other piano sonatas, other than the fact that they are

composed in minor keys? As Mozart is responsible for much of our conception of

the high Viennese piano sonata, many features found in the two sonatas also

appear throughout his works for solo piano. At the same time, many of the

features unique to the minor key sonatas can be readily understood through the

metrics of Topic Theory.

Key descriptions provided by many of the commentators on K. 310 and K.

457 suggest an air of austerity and discipline, and the application of topoi in a

disciplined and austere manner is exactly how the works can be understood as

related to each other, and as separable from Mozarts other works in the

genre.4 Commentators such as Ratner (the father of Topic Theory) and

Allanbrook expect that Mozarts work should be a miniature theater of gestures

(Allanbrook 1992, 130) or tightly packed with topical inference. Contrary to these

expectations, the first and third movements of K. 310 and K. 457 are topically

3 K. 310 is described as a startling artistic manifestation (Kinderman 2006, 44) Irving describes

K. 457 as music conceived for a different purpose, and as music for listeners to specifically gather

to engage with, as opposed to pleasant background parlor music. (Irving 2010, 8) Kinderman

describes K. 457 as Prefiguring Beethovens C minor mood (Kinderman 2006, 58) 4 K. 310 is described as standing in splendid isolation (Kinderman 2006, 44). Hatten describes

elements of K. 310s textural continuity as a part of the shifting aesthetic orientation from Classical to Romantic mores, and describes K. 310 as possessing a relentless and authoritative

fatefulness (Hatten 2004, 240 and 244). K. 457 is described by Badura-Skoda as a Conquest of personal tragedy by inner order and discipline and by Hatten as containing implacable and inexorable authoritative forces. (Hatten 2004, 156 and 164).

3

austere and strictly controlled in their foreground content. In essence, I will show

that their special nature is at least partly the product of their strictly controlled

topical content. As such, this project will often involve the reading of topoi in a

quasi-formalist sense, rather than hermeneutic discussion of their meaning.

Topic Theory: Background and Debate

From its contacts with worship, poetry, drama, entertainment, dance, ceremony, the military, the hunt, and the life of the lower classes, music in the early 18th century

developed a thesaurus of characteristic figures, which formed a rich legacy for

classic composers. Some of these figures were associated with various feelings and

affections; others had a picturesque flavor. They are designated here as topics subjects for musical discourse (Ratner 1980, 9).

Topic Theory has been slowly gaining acceptance as an analytical method

since its first conception in Leonard Ratners 1980 text Classic Music. According

to Raymond Monelle, one of Ratners greatest achievements was the promotion of

the idea that signification in music could be symbolic as well as iconic (Monelle

2000, 14). In essence, Ratner was helping to divest analysts of their

misconception that allusion to an extra-musical object or idea had to be direct and

imitative. The rise of Ratners symbolism allowed for the implication of an extra-

musical concept in the form of a culturally shared vocabulary of allusions,

regardless of whether or not they directly imitated or suggested a particular object

or concept. Ratner was proposing that symbolic stand-ins should become

acceptable objects for analysis. A number of disciplinary controversies with Topic

Theory appear to stem from the clash between North American theorists staunch

expectation of empiricism and this new socially informed lexicon of objects for

musical analysis.

4

In addressing reception issues concerning Topic Theory, McKays survey

article On Topics Today defines topoi as conventional musical signs, or

commonplaces of style...distilled fromor grafted onto (depending on ones

critical stance)the rhetorical surface of music in the analytical/interpretive

process known as Topic Theory (McKay 2007, 160). McKay describes Topic

Theorys aim as to explicate the expressive qualities of ostensibly abstract (and

typically) classical music (McKay 2007, 161). In reality, practice is lagging

behind theory. The general theoretical position, as McKay continues, defines

topic theorys nature as a mere curio of music semiotics; a sub-discipline that has

yet to gain full entry into the hegemonic club of musicology (McKay 2007, 161).

The hesitancy to employ topoi as an analytical tool must therefore be somehow

related to their largely hermeneutic origins and unempirical employment in the

context of new musicological analysis.

At least part of the reason for topic theorys notable delay of several decades

in penetrating theoretical discourse stems from its perceived nature as a hybrid of

cultural signification and loosely interpretable gestures, as McKay continues,

noting that topic-theory is not simply the art of appending style labels to musical

moments (McKay 2007, 162). Rather than asserting that music was capable of

being directly referential or communicative of ideas, Monelle argues that we

should accept that musical discourse should be limited to music itself: Music

does not signify society. It does not signify literature. And most of all, it does not

signify reality. Musical codes are proper to music, as the other codes are proper

to their respective spheres. Codes signify each other, however; between literature

5

and society, reading and life, there are the sorts of semiotic relations that permit

each medium to make sense (Monelle 2000, 19). Monelle thus maintains that

topoi should be allowed to function independently in music without the constant

suggestion of their cultural originsa divorce must occur between where they

came from, or what they originally implied, and how they function in musical

language as pure musical objects.

Strikingly, however, McKay exposes another tacit assumption present in

academic music: surface features are somehow less relevant to musical analysis

middleground and background always trump the foreground, and structure is

somehow more vital than surface execution. McKays survey attempts to

reconcile this bias by espousing the successes and descriptive power of Topic

Theory, regardless of the disciplinary issues concerning musical foreground.

To the great benefit of music theory as a discipline, background and

middleground, by nature, are readily reducible and appear empirically consistent

across arbitrary style periods and the Common Practice Period. In relation to topic

theory, however, for the scientistic aspirational conceits of music theory as a

discipline, topic theorys universe and characteristic interplay of topoi do not

provide a basis for predictive testability.

The predictability of structure provides a legitimation so far deemed

unattainable in the realm of the foreground content of music. Topic theorys

problems therefore stem from the epistemological uncertainties connected to its

nature as a tool of foreground analysis. As Caplin (2005) phrases this problem,

This boils down to the question of what motivates or constrains the succession of

6

various topics within a work. Are there, in fact, rules or motivating forces that

guide the ordering of topics? (Caplin 2005, 113) Framed another way for this

project, is topical syntax a meaningful concept if a certain affect appears to be

ever present and the same topoi are repeatedly invoked?

The Universe of Topoi is frequently expanded and repeated within works

claiming some connection to topical analytical techniques. These universes with

their lists of topoi are largely identical, and provide insight into the lack of

formalized techniques for topical analysis. In essence, topical commentators pick

a label, and apply it according to evidence within the surface of music.

Table 1, given below as reproduced from Caplin (2004), is similar to tables

given in Agawu (1991) and Monelle (2000). Apart from being representative of

many of the frequently referenced topoi given in the literature, Caplins table

groups topoi according to their likely implication in structural and formal

elements of compositiona breakthrough vital to the coming discussion of K.

310 and K. 457. The given topoi, a mere subset of an ever increasing total, are

organized according to the degree by which they are thought to be connected to

formal (structural) elements in the works in which they are used. The less-than-

convincing adjectives possible and likely, given as headings, speak to the lack of

predictive power of topical analysis and the absence of a formalization of topical

application or suggested order of operations.

7

Table 1: Universe of Topics reproduced from Caplin after Agawu and Monelle.

NO FORMAL

RELATION

________________________

POSSIBLE FORMAL

RELATION

________________________

LIKELY FORMAL RELATION

_____________________

alla breve brilliant style coup darchet

alla zoppa Cadenza Fanfare

Amoroso Fantasia French overture

Aria Horse horn call (horn fifths)

bourre hunt style Lament

Gavotte Pastoral learned style

March Empfindsamkeit Mannheim rocket

Military Musette

Minuet Sturm und Drang

Ombra

opera buffa

Recitative

Sarabande

sigh motive (Seufzer)

singing style

Turkish music

Given this absence of a topical syntactic or structural reducibility, Drabkins

1992 critique of Agawus Playing With Signs as a semiotic interpretation of music

in the form of Schenker plus style represents a typical example of the structural

biases present in music theoretical discourse (Drabkin 1992, 88). Drabkins

critique seems to stem from his assumption that topoi, as part of the foreground

domain, are always secondary to normalized formal structures. When Agawu

applies topics to a known formal structure, the diminution or style on the

8

surface is naturally reducible to a normalized tonal skeleton. Does this imply that

the skeleton is the only integral part of the whole?

Drabkins criticism, by virtue of its intent to probe the theoretical

meaningfulness of topical inquiry as secondary to the constants of form, frame,

and deeper structure implies an unquestioned assumption of primacy of the

background and deep middleground, and a disregard for the descriptive and

hermeneutic powers of topic theory as mere style. Problematic in this

interpretation of the term style is the implicit assumption that form and its tonal

markers are timeless constants, and that stylized diminution is an ultimately

disposable and irrelevant confection or fashion. While Schenkerian and form-

based tonal precepts may hold across centuries, to disregard the foreground of

readily comprehensible tonal idioms local to certain time periods is pure

reductionism.

Given that the formal and tonal conventions of eighteenth century music fall

somewhere into a standardized continuum, must topic theory exist as a parasite

searching for a structural host? In reality, its only problem seems to be that it is

not readily reducible to formal clichs or standardized patterns for predictability,

and might even provide for unique worksat least in terms of their topical

content. In the plainest language possible, it seems like many of the problems of

Topic Theory would disappear if it were simply renamed Topic Analysis

referring to its powers to describe a certain element of musical foreground content

without the need to predict or generate anything.

9

Ultimately, for analysts to grapple with foreground materials, they must learn

to admit the concept of individuality in order to account for the surface features or

style of diminution present in each piece. By analogy, structure and function are

expected at the foundation of a building, but the edifice may be the domain of

contrasted techniques and abstractions; conceptualization of a gothic vault must

rely upon our understanding of the relative structural position of a ceiling in order

to make sense of its meaning and stylistic congruence with the whole buildings

features. As a direct analog, for a formal study of topical features, the techniques

and abstractions in the foreground of a musical work must be contextualized in

time and space. Put another way, external structural knowledge and reference is

mandatory for meaningful discussion of topical construction of larger scale

movements. The language of Schenker, or Caplin, or Hepokoski and Darcy situate

topical interrelationships over longer time periods. As such, I argue that the

dismissal of Topical Analysis using an external system of formal analysis as being

simply Style plus is missing the point of Topical Analysis the discussion of

a specific feature of musical foreground and style, with external formal cues to

situate the topoi in time and context.

As it becomes increasingly difficult to talk about large scale harmonic

progression without form, it becomes difficult to discuss intertextuality of topoi

without reference to anchoring features of the music to situate them precisely. At

the level of seconds versus minutes, we should have the flexibility to change our

analytical vocabulary to account for scope. In discussing or generalizing topical

10

content at a piece-wide level, it should stand to reason that external formal

knowledge can provide context.

Topic Theory: Applicability to K. 310 and K. 457

Topic theorys hermeneutic tools for analysis, refined in texts such as Ratner

(1980, 1991) Allanbrook (1983), Hatten (2004), and Monelle (2000, 2006) are

readily applicable to eighteenth century keyboard musics noted intertextuality.

Ratners 1991 article Topical Content in Mozarts Keyboard Sonatas presents

what is perhaps the most succinct summary of the role of topical content in late-

eighteenth century keyboard music: The syntactical make-up of Classic music

lends itself aptly to the interplay of musical processes and topical references. In

the Classic style, the precise trim of cadential formulas, rhythmic groupings, clear

articulations, transparent textures and orderly key schemes allow a composer to

etch sharply with figures that are neatly and closely spaced, to spin out a rhetoric

that is essentially comic and witty in its underlying tone. This attitude is embodied

particularly in the rapid shifts of topic, of affective stance, that are so often heard

in late 18th century music (Ratner 1991, 615). In effect, Ratner establishes a

standard for the juxtaposition and contrast of topical content as a vital rhetorical

feature of late Viennese keyboard music, and as such, topical analysis should be

fruitful in interpreting the foreground and rhetorical meaning of its repertoire.

Various authors, such as Allanbrook, echo and extend Ratners approach and

provide historical context for the compositional employment of topoi:

Composers of the high Baroque customarily explored one gesture in a movement,

favoring a mono-affective style. Classic composers, on the other hand, preferred

11

to bring into the frame of a single movement the bustle and contrast of a world in

small, in a harmonic and affective dialectic set out in antecedent and consequent

symmetries (or in the intentional breach thereof) (Allanbrook 1983, 19). The

rhetorical features of dialog and opposition in musical execution are therefore

characteristic of the Viennese style. Topical convention and breaks with

convention are a necessary part of the musical rhetorical language of the time. It

is the idea of the break with topical convention i.e. Allanbrooks miniature

theater of gestures, through the austere application of Venerable Style topoi in K.

310 and K. 457 that the coming discussion will link to the reception of the works

as special or avant-garde.

Hepokoski and Darcys Elements of Sonata Theory

Discussion of topical analysis has arrived at the conclusion that formal

waypoints are necessary to discuss topical machinations in the foreground of

works, and that the Venerable Style is one of the few topoi with probable

structural implications in musical form. For the purposes of this discussion, the

formal theory presented in Hepokoski and Darcys Elements of Sonata Form:

Norms, Types, and Deformations in the Late-Eighteenth-Century Sonata will be

applied to present an argument for the structural importance and compositional

significance of the Venerable Style in K. 310 and K. 457.

The purpose of its selection as a theory of form amongst several possibilities

was made because of the theorys precise system of labels for formal regions and

the location cues that arise from this precision. Intra-movement analysis will be

12

made possible by these cues in reference to movements as a whole, and

comparative analysis will also be facilitated by this precision.

Despite similar formal characteristics in each of the Sonata Allegro first

movements and Sonata Rondo third movements, the idiosyncrasies of each

movement become readily apparent using Hepokoski and Darcys flexible system.

Hepokoski and Darcy provide a useful series of tools for understanding and

labelling formal spaces and delineations in various sonata forms. For instance,

when K. 457s third movement recapitulates its second expository theme before

its first, a label for the apparent aberration of form is available, along with an

explanation of how this deviates from standard practice.

Ultimately, the system will provide a precise and flexible G.P.S. for the

discussion of topical content at the small and large scale in single movements, and

in comparative analysisthe greatest test of the projects hypothesis regarding

the Venerable Style and the similarities between K. 310 and K. 457.

The Venerable Style

The Venerable Style (V.S.) is one of the most readily discernible topoi,

with the rare attribute of being amongst the few with a historical and cultural

precedent for being knowingly programmed into works, and referred to by

composers, theorists, and musicologists alike for hundreds of years before

Ratners Classic Music. At its most basic level, the V.S. refers to a composers

allusion to an air of historicity and a veneration of older compositional rigor,

13

typically ecclesiastical in origin. For the purposes of this project, a more detailed

definition and exploration of the term is necessary.

The V.S. has a number of subcategories and alternate names which always

imply its presence: strict style, stile antico, stile legato, the learned style, and stile

osservato. Generally, these terms are used in style analysis, and more recently in

topical analysis, to refer to readily discernible foreground characteristics of a

work which refer to this older venerated style of composition. Ratner (1980)

groups these topoi under the heading of Strict Style and seeks to define this style

as setting firm rules for harmonic and melodic progression, creating a smooth

connection of slowly moving melodies and harmonies; its simplest and most

traditional form was the alla breve progression in whole- and half-notes. Stile

legato means bound style, which refers to this kind of connection. Learned style

signifies imitation, fugal or canonic, and contrapuntal composition, generally

(Ratner 1980, 23). Hatten (2004) groups these elements as the Venerable Style,

with a similar description of musical content, providing a limited exploration of

several disconnected elements of the V.S. employed in K. 310. Further

descriptions of the V.S. given in Allanbrook (1983), Agawu (1991), and Caplin

(2005) involve similar definitions.

Ironically, however, specific features of the V.S. are rarely given more

than one at a time, but rather, are provided as necessary to argue a specific point

with a few measures of music. The only common description of the V.S. provides

a general expectation of an air of ecclesiastic rigor. Allanbrook defines it as

Synonymous with certain musical practices which had come to be considered

14

antique. Fuxian species counterpoint, with its long-note cantus firmi, heavily

accented and slow of tempoIt was epitomized by copy-book exercises in duple

measures of half and whole notes white-note or alla breve counterpoint

(Allanbrook 1983, 17). The features of the V.S. presented in this project are

therefore a composite of various authors interpretations of what a venerable style

ought to be, rather than a readily defined set of features.5

This patchwork of elements presented in this project will include a number

of rhythmic, tonal, and contrapuntal devices derived from the old and learned

styles, with the majority of features influenced by pre-Baroque techniques. Pre-

Baroque V.S. features present in K. 310 and K. 457 will be compiled as listed in

Ratner (1980, 23), Hatten (2004, 244), and Allanbrook (1983, 17). This list will

include:

Suspension derived figures at the melodic forefront

Suspension chains in various configurations

Pedal points in various configurations

Invertible counterpoint

Canonic and imitative play

Extensive lament figures and sighs

Passus duriusculus and lament bass accompaniments6

A number of these features became standard musical language in the

Baroque Period, but a number of newer Baroque-specific features became

5 Several of the V.S. features remained in continual usage from their Renaissance/Baroque origins

through the Classical Period and beyond. As such, sections discussing elements such as pedal

points and suspension chains will show that other V.S. features always accompany these common

gestures in close proximity, indicating a compounded presence of the venerable style.

6 Passus Duriusculus refers to the melodic filling in of a perfect fourth by all chromatic steps. This

device typically suggests a specific variety of lament figure and dates back to the sixteenth century.

Monelle (2000, 73)

15

common with the increasing harmonic consciousness and rise of instrumental

virtuosity. In addition to the pre-Baroque features listed above, a number of

Baroque influences are present within K. 310 and K. 457, given here as a

composite list of elements described by Hatten (2004, 241), Agawu (1991, 62-64),

Gauldin (1988, 28), and Hepokoski and Darcy (2006, 313):

Repetition, often an octave higher or lower

Harmonic and melodic sequence

Restatement in a different (related) key

Melodic mirror (mirror inversion counterpoint)

Rhythmic alteration

Monotextural and monoaffective construction

Emphasis upon minor dominant relationships

These Baroque-specific features augment the conception of Mozarts use

of the V.S. for a consciously antiquarian focus in these compositions. It stands to

reason that the consistent application of these devices suggests an attempt to

evoke something of the authority, venerable air, and intellectual rigor of the music

of the past.

In backing up these assertions with historical scholarship, Einstein (1965)

and Melograni (2005) provide ample basis for the acceptance of Mozarts training

in the V.S. Examples cited include his studies in Fuxian counterpoint with the

Baroque counterpoint master Padre Martini in 1770, and pedagogical application

of the V.S. with his own compositional students. The work of Matthew Dirst in

Engaging Bach (2012) uncovers the links between Mozarts music and his study

of the music of J.S. Bach and Handel, citing Mozarts interest in Bachs music as

16

responsible for the extraordinary displays of combinatoriality in Mozarts later

works (Dirst 2012, 57). Mozarts youthful contact with fugal forms and the music

of previous generations is also particularly relevant to the current study. Dirst

states that Mozart frequented musical salons aimed at exploring antiquarian

music in 1782, and 1783a year before the appearance of K. 457 (Dirst 2012,

58). This relationship is also explored in Stanley Sadies article Mozart, Bach

and Counterpoint, wherein Mozarts fascination with writing in V.S. styles,

especially the fantasias and fugues is discussed in relation to his contact with J.S.,

W.F., and C.P.E. Bachs music (Sadie 1963, 24).

Topical Troping and Expansion

Topics are style types that possess strong correlations or associations with expressive meaning; thus they are natural candidates for tropological treatment (Hatten 2004, 68).

Traditionally, topoi have traditionally been understood as compositionally

programmed one after the other, as in Allanbrook (1992)s miniature theater of

gestures, implying limited interaction, but since the turn of the millennium, a

new conception of the mixing and interplay of topoi has begun to be represented

in the literature. A significant part of this change in conception has been

increasingly sophisticated studies of topical juxtaposition and intertextuality. At

the vanguard of this study is the concept of topical troping, defined by Hatten as

the bringing together of two otherwise incompatible style types in a single

location to produce a unique expressive meaning from their collision or fusion

(Hatten 2004, 68). As a specific example of topical troping, Mozarts piano sonata

in F Major, K. 332, first movement, consists of a virtual roll call of topically

17

troped content, linking and juxtaposing the material of the expository content

through a chain of singing style, V.S., horn call, Sturm und Drang, Minuet, and

many other topoi over the course of its exposition (Allanbrook 1992). The overall

affect is of a highly active exposition which alludes to many styles while clearly

articulating its formal delineations.

Essentially, whereas topoi were once interpreted as islands of affect

chained together by arbitrarily imposed formal constraints, the newest

conceptions provide for the existence of topically unified and affectively

amplified compositions. Barred for the moment from the implication of any form

of topical syntax, topic theorists have at least developed the analytical vocabulary

and conception to discuss the interplay of topoi at the local and piece-wide level.

As Hatten continues, Troping constitutes one of the more spectacular ways that

composers can create new meanings, and thematic tropes may have consequences

for the interpretation of an entire multi-movement work (Hatten 2004, 68).

Significantly for this project, the task of interpreting the interplay of topoi is still a

work in progress, as the developments of the past decade have shown.

In continuation of this theme of breaking new ground in the understanding

of topical interplay, the V.S. will be shown to be adaptable to several classical

styles by nature of a new concept I am introducing known as topical expansion.

As an analog of tonal expansion, wherein a vertical harmonic entity is expanded

over the space of several chords through inversion and contrapuntal motion,

topical expansion will allow for the rhythmic (and tonal) expansion of certain

topoi through the direct application of other topical styles. Topical expansion

18

therefore suggests a temporal and formal relationship between topoi in addition to

the hermeneutic interpretations given in Hattens troping of topoi. As a general

example, suspension chains (as a mainstay of the V.S.) will be shown to be

topically expandable through application of the Sturm und Drang or concerted

styles in a kind of topical diminution. What was originally a progression of half or

whole notes can now be found in wholly contemporary rhythmic diminution with

the insertion of additional tonal material. By virtue of the fact that two or more

topoi are concurrently in play, with one or more building upon and elaborating the

surface of a topical foundation, topical expansion is separable from troping.

As an analog of the Schenkerian concept of expansion, certain features of

Schenkerian tonal expansion may be common to topical expansion, and given that

topical expansion occurs with tonal materials, there will be considerable overlap

between topoi and tonality. In execution, however, topical expansion requires the

application of a specific rhythmic or tonal topoi to a V.S. foundation: a suspension

chain will be topically expanded by the concerted style, or a passus duriusculus

will be expanded by an Alberti type bass. Topical expansion is therefore not

incompatible with or in competition with Schenkerian precepts, but rather, topical

expansions inhabit a strictly independent domain of foreground topical interplay.

What was originally a progression of half or whole notes can now be found in

wholly contemporary rhythmic diminution with the insertion of additional tonal

material. Diminution is not a specific enough label the style, degree of

lengthening, and shape of diminution as expression through topical language is

integral in creating an overall affect.

19

The previous discussion has established the validity of topical analysis for

K. 310 and K. 457s first and third movements. I will expand on Caplins view

(2005) that the venerable and learned styles are some of the only historically

developed and culturally accepted topics with formal ramifications, with specific

reference to the V.S.s role as a foreground/middleground marker of structural

delineation. Specifically, I will prove that K. 310 and K. 457s content is built

largely upon the application and expansion of V.S. topoi in key formal regions

given in Hepokoski and Darcy. In essence, the V.S. will be shown to be a vital

element at play in the foreground of each of the works, linking their affects in

both foreground and at a deeper structural level, regardless of differences in their

execution. The unique affective stance of these works is at least partly a product

of their topically unified foregrounds.

Formal Organization and Structure

Individual chapters will be dedicated to detailed topical analysis of the

first and third movements of both sonatas, with the specific purpose of

highlighting elements of the V.S. in their key formal regions. Following detailed

analysis of each movement, the final chapter will collect the data and display it in

a side by side format to draw conclusions regarding the use of the V.S. within K.

310 and K. 457, and for all four movements. Ultimately it will prove possible to

draw large scale generalizations about the systematic strict control of topical

content, and fundamental preference for the V.S., which will be presented as the

concluding commentary of the project.

20

CHAPTER 2

ANALYSIS: PIANO SONATA IN A MINOR, K. 310,

MOVEMENT 1

The Piano Sonata in A minor K. 310, believed to have been completed in

Paris in 1778, is typically associated with Mozarts imagined state of mind

following his mothers death. Perhaps more than any other biographical

connection to a composition in Mozarts output, this event has been attached to

the work and constantly associated with its darkness and tensions, creating a

quasi-programmatic explanation for its affect.

Critical reception of the work has typically focused upon this extra-

musical information and limited theoretical discussion of the work. As with the

other three sonata movements in minor keys, the work garners the same adjectives

in aesthetic commentary, being labelled as fateful, relentless, and driven. For

instance, Kinderman states, The driven, almost fatalistic character of the Allegro

maestoso of the Paris Sonata is conveyed partly through rhythmic means:

repeated chords in the bass and dotted rhythms in the treble dominate at the outset,

and large portions of this movement, and the finale as well, are written in an

irresistible perpetuam mobile (Kinderman 2006, 45).7

The driven rhythmic profile, prone to the implication of irresistible

perpetuam mobile, creates an impression of organic unity owing to its recycling

7 Hatten also describes elements of the movement as fateful and obsessive. (Hatten 2004, 240)

21

and reapplication of several key motives attached to characteristic topoi. The (P)

Space will be explored first with its characteristic Turkish elements.

(P) Primary Theme

The (P) theme of K.310 is built upon a restruck initiating tonic pedal point,

the first V.S. element of the work, leading many authors to perceive a quality of

obsessiveness. As an initial example of topical expansion, K. 310s opening

measures are described as carrying the implication of a Turkish March by

Leonard Ratner. Figure 1 introduces this expansion: the Turkish March topic is

superimposed on a tonic pedal point.

Figure 2.1: K. 310, Movement 1, mm. 1-4.

Initiating tonic pedal point.

The Turks had a colorful and distinctive military style called Janissary music,

featuring drums, triangle, winds, and cymbals. Ratner describes this style as

being frequently modified to accommodate to western taste (Ratner 1980, 21). It

is precisely this accommodation, which Ratner ascribes to K. 310s opening,

which can be thought of as the application of an external topic to the V.S. element.

Adaptation exists as the core of topical expansion, and this movements Turkish

marches, fanfares, and Empfindsamer Stil sighs, pauses, and chromatic

intensifications work together to create the noted air of fatefulness and obsession.

22

An additional V.S. element is rapidly introduced in the form of the Seufzer

figure. As Kinderman says in relation to K. 310s first measures, The continuous

driving rhythm of eighth notes connects to this short expressive episode at m. 5,

with the ostinato effect curtailed at the sigh-figures in mm. 5-7, as imitations in

the left hand mimic the gestures in the right hand. (Kinderman 2006, 45) Figure

2 illustrates the first instance of the recurrent Seufzer figures.


Seufzer figures.

Imitation is therefore another key resource of the works thematic and

topical construction. Rather than dialogical discourse, which can be thought of as

a common aspect of classical style, the older imitative tradition is brought to the

forefront. Kinderman describes this impulse, It is as if an external implacable

agency embodied in the first measures had yielded momentarily to a personal,

subjective presence in the following measures, before collapsing into the

irresistible forward momentum (Kinderman 2006, 45). To summarize, K. 310s

first movement (P) Space implies the three V.S. staples of the pedal point, the

Seufzer, and a general imitative trend expanded through the application of

contemporary popular topoi.

23

(TR) Transition

Forward momentum, or the recurrence of a moto perpetuo figure, colors

the transition. A tonal shift to a rapid series of applied chords with suspensions

compresses the transition to the space of four measures, as Figure 3 illustrates.


Transitional suspensions.

These suspensions follow a circuitous tonal path towards the mediant harmonic

area expected in the exposition. The consistent use of suspension figures

foreshadows the extended use of the suspension (and later suspension chains)

throughout the movement.

(MC) Medial Caesura

The passage leading to the Medial Caesura of K. 310s first movement is

topically marked in a straightforward manner by the application of another pedal

point (this time taking place over a pedal six-four chord, darkened with the

parallel minor of the coming formal mediant C Major section in a Sturm and

24

Drang style.) Figure 4 illustrates this dramatic rhetorical device.


Pedal-based material leading to Medial Caesura.

Mozarts use of the neighbor six-four pedal chord is a feature of the materials

approaching the Medial Caesurae in several other piano sonatas, including K. 545,

yet the choice to expand the pedal with a Sturm und Drang topic, in the mediants

parallel minor, topically marks K. 310 as expansive and darkly shaded.8

(S) Secondary Theme

The secondary theme initially begins with an imitative melodic sequence in

fifths composed in constantly flowing sixteenth notes, described by Hatten as

gallant and decorous (Hatten 2006, 240). The effect is reminiscent of the

sequential imitation of an organ toccata, rapidly descending through the space of

two octaves until a stronger V.S. element comes to the forefront. The melodic

sequence represents another instance of imitation. Figure 5 displays the sequential

imitation which initially creates the impression of a rapid paced second thematic

group, and creates the impression of a continued moto perpetuo affective stance.

8 Other piano sonatas incorporating this darkening of tonality include the first movements of K.

282, 284, and 332.

25


Sequential imitation.

Just as the brilliant stylistic expansion and elaboration of the imitative

sequence is curtailed, local events suggest that the running sixteenth pattern will

completely dominate the texture. Mozart has further V.S. elements in store, which

quickly become the melodic focus of the (S) space. As Hatten continues, The

galant style shifts to the learned and bound styles, non legato shifts to legato, and

a circle of fifths melodic sequence is answered by a linear descending sequence

with 7-6 suspensions (Hatten 2004, 241). Figure 6 displays the melodic Fuxian

counterpoint, complete with fourth species suspension chains set against the

Brilliant Style elements of the right hand accompaniment.


Fuxian counterpoint with suspension chains.

Measures 28-32 of the (S) space are therefore readily understood as

Fuxian Counterpoint topically expanded via the Brilliant Style. The unique

impression of this passage comes from the co-application and mingling of two

topoi, rather than oppositional juxtaposition.

26

(EEC) Essential Expositional Closure

Hepokoski and Darcys conception of the form of the work refers to the

repeatedly postponed PAC in the measures leading to the (EEC) section of the

movement. Their description of the evasions describes the registral positioning of

the effect, but not the mechanism: The upper voice drops out and resumes in a

higher register, m. 35; the EEC is evaded again, with bass dropping out, at m. 40,

postponing the EEC until the next PAC at m. 45 (Hepokoski and Darcy 2011,

110). In deeper analysis of the foreground, these evasions consist of several

measures of invertible counterpoint at the octave, indicating the presence of the

V.S. topic, with an interpolated measure of registral adjustment carrying out what

is effectively a voice exchange.

The inverted motives, again topically expanded in the Brilliant Style, create

the unmistakable impression of two tonic and dominant harmonic entities related

by inversion. The contrapuntal inversion supplies the mechanism of expansion

and evasion of the PAC, as displayed in Figure 7.


Invertible counterpoint and evaded cadences.

As Hatten states regarding the closure, In the final drive to cadence, (mm.

42-49) the sixteenths take on a more fateful aspect in their relentless descent in

27

the left hand to the lowest register; and the return of the dotted-rhythmic motive

associated with the A minor first theme underscores their obsessive and fateful

character (Hatten 2004, 240). These sixteenth notes in mm.45-48 can also be

understood as a further interrupted and imitative melodic sequence spanning two

octaves, which registrally adjusts the left hand for the confident C major chords

signaling the end of the exposition at measure 49.

To summarize, both the (P) and (S) Spaces have been shown to be built and

layered upon slower moving V.S. features, which expand a series of basic tonal

relationships implied by the form.

Developmental Space

Starting out as a simple mediant restatement of the (P) theme, K. 310s

first movement developmental space rapidly takes a darker affective turn

following the enharmonic reinterpretation of a dominant seventh chord as an

augmented sixth, leading to one of the most often referenced moments in

Mozarts solo piano output. Ratner provides several descriptions of K. 310s

affective turn, first as an alla breve in strict style, with the flavor of a Turkish

march, and could easily be imagined for orchestra with tremolo support by the

bass strings or timpani (Ratner 1980, 135,) then as consisting of bound or strict

style in four voices (Ratner 1980, 137).

28


Turkish expansion of Fuxian counterpoint and pedal point.

Both of these descriptions signal the underlying topical expansion taking place

within the section, but downplay the secondary expansion of what Kinderman

refers to as a grinding pedal pointindicating a second expansion consisting of

a pedal point programmed with the Orientalist Turkish style over descending fifth

sequence (Kinderman 2006, 45). As Ivanovitch (2011) discusses, pedal points

and suspension chains often generate significant portions of Mozarts retransitions,

but they are never combined in the same way.9 This retransition of K. 310

displays Mozarts characteristic showing off of his ability to combine multiple

techniques in a single passage (Ivanovitch 2011, 23). Put another way, Mozart

comingles four elements of two styles via topical expansion.

In essence, two V.S. topoi are expanded concurrently over the harmonic

sequencethe pedal point and the bound style of the Fuxian counterpoint, which

9 Mozarts resourcefulness in drawing upon this family of techniques in ever new combinations

and guises is dazzling. Even in movements which contain more than one such retransition, they

are never presented in the same way twice. (Ivanovitch 2011, 11)

29

in addition to the right hands rhythmic recall of the (P) spaces Turkish style and

the left hands grinding bass, create an expanded layer of topoi in greater density

than simple juxtaposition or troping of two topoi can account for. The resulting

doubly-compounded texture is rich in topical content and creates a unique

affective profile within the movement. The sum of these topical products achieves

what Irving refers to as a diversity of textures in a short subsection of the

movements formal construction (Irving 2010, 46). Moreover, the complex

texture and moto perpetuo affect reflect passages of monotextural and

monoaffective movements of the Baroque. As Hatten relates, That the continuity

of motion draws something of its expressive force from allusions to the Baroque

is clear from passages in the development section (Hatten 2004, 241). Each of

these four measure cells are effectively reduced to applied chords in a descending

fifth sequence, but the manner in which Mozart fills twelve measures with only

three chords is given short attention. The application of two topoi in the Baroque

and Turkish influenced moto perpetuo passage exemplify Mozarts ability in the

comingling of styles.

The return of sequential melodic imitation via another descending fifth

harmonic and melodic sequence, again expanded via the Turkish March rhythmic

figure of the (P) Space, drives harmonic activity towards the necessary A minor

half cadence.

30

Figure 2.9: K. 310, Movement 1, mm. 56-58

Expanded harmonic sequence.

The Development Space ends with yet another elaborate extended Sturm und

Drang expansion of an A minor half cadence on a six-four pedal point. In

addition to its similarity to the Medial Caesura expansion, this passage also

demonstrates a textural inversion relationship with mm. 56-58.10

The running

sixteenth motion moves to the right hand, and the ornamented patterns move to

the left hand, as shown by Figure 10.

Figure 2.10: K. 310: Movement 1, mm. 74-79.

Expanded end of development half cadence.

To summarize, the V.S. elements of the pedal point, suspension chain and

melodic and harmonic sequence continue throughout the developmental space,

topically expanded via the Sturm und Drang and Turkish styles. Each of these

V.S. elements plays a direct role in decorating and expanding the tonal journey to

10

Textural inversion involves the rivolgimento relationship of invertible counterpoint transposed

to the domain of textural content through rhythm. This concept will be expanded upon in Chapter

6 for K. 310s third movementa movement in which textural inversion is a principle compositional device.

31

the formally required half cadence. The initial measures of the recapitulation

contain an exact restatement of the expositions (P) material, creating an

expectation for a continuation of the hammering pedal point, until the transitional

material begins upon a new path.

Recapitulatory Transition

The recapitulatory transition of K. 310s first movement is a reimagining

of the expositional transition with different expansions of the V.S. As previously

discussed, the expositional transition is comprised of a continuation of the

primary themes left hand restruck pedal point, but in the recapitulatory transition,

the right hand now contains a suspension chain topically expanded in the

concerted style. Figure 11 shows this expansion.


(P) theme and suspension chains.

The left and right hands roles are inverted relative to the expositions transition.

The left hand carries the melodic activity until the V.S. sigh figure native to the

expositions transition returns in an expanded and intensified format as shown in

Figure 12.

32


Expanded transitional Seufzer figures.

The medial caesura also returns as an exact transposition, this time to create a half

cadence in the tonic A minor before the secondary thematic material of the

exposition returns. Upon its recapitulation, the secondary thematic material

consists of a modified minor mode restatement of the Brilliant Style imitative

material originally presented in mm. 23-28 the Fuxian counterpoint, and the

evaded invertible counterpoint. As Hepokoski and Darcy state, There is little

more powerful or more affecting within minor-mode sonatas of the i III type

than the bleak realization that all of part 2 sounded in major in the exposition

might come back entirely in minor in the recapitulation (Hepokoski and

Darcy 2011, 313). Variations within this bleak realization do occur and additional

V.S. implications abound, including compound melodies and internal pedal points.


Recapitulatory space compound melody.

33

The recapitulatory (S) Spaces invertible counterpoint restatement

employs a broken Neapolitan Sixth and diminished seventh chord to registrally

adjust between restatements in place of the simple scale of the original (S) Space,

in line with the more aggressive affect of the minor mode recapitulation, as shown

in Figure 14.


Invertible counterpoint with Neapolitan Sixth interpolation.

With respect to generic rotational practice of sonata form, the material is

presented in identical order and with almost direct transposition of each of the V.S.

features of the original expository material into the minor mode. The Essential

Structural Closure (ESC) occurs in the same manner as the (EEC), following a

multitude of Sturm und Drang interpolations. The closure (C) follows in exact

transposition of the expositions closure, with its Turkish March rhythmic

implications and harmonic sequence.

Summary

To summarize, K. 310s first movement is unified topically by consistent

articulation of compounded elements of the V.S in each of the integral formal

regions. Despite extended sections written in an implied moto perpetuo manner,

34

the rhythmic articulations and application of a V.S. foundation expanded and

troped with the Turkish March, Brilliant, Empfindsamkeit, and Sturm und Drang

topoi provide clear articulations of form. The V.S. elements provide expansive

content to elaborate and transition between the basic key areas of the movement.

As Hatten describes, despite the potentially disruptive nature of

continuous sixteenth notes, clear divisions exist between presentation, transitional,

and closing types of material (Hatten 2004, 240). The rhythmic activities and

individual topical profiles of each of the formal regions allows for a clearly

articulated formal plan and coherence in performance. In addition, the V.S. pedal

points, harmonic sequences, and suspension chains each play a role in driving the

tonal motion towards formally necessitated disjunctions. Although Ivanovitch

(2011) argues that these features are common elements of Mozarts retransitions,

they bridge complete segments of material founded upon V.S. elements,

indicating its continuous and compounded presence.

35

Table 2: K. 310, Movement 1. Summary of V.S. features.

FORMAL REGION V.S FEATURES EXPANDED AND

TROPED BY

(P) Initiating Pedal Point

Seufzer Turkish March/Sturm und

Drang/Empfindsamkeit

(TR) Suspensions/Seufzer

Figures

Turkish March/Sturm und


(MC) Expanded Pedal Six-

Four Sturm und Drang

(S)

Sequential Imitation in

Toccata Style

Fuxian Counterpoint and Suspensions

Brilliant

(EEC) Invertible Counterpoint

at the Octave Brilliant

(C) Sequential Imitation Brilliant

DEVELOPMENT

SPACE

Pedal Point

Pedal Point Sequence Fuxian Counterpoint

with Suspension Chains

Sequential Imitation Pedal Six-Four with Textural Inversion



RECAPITULATORY

(P)

Initiating Pedal Point

R.H. Suspension Chain


Drang

RECAPITULATORY

(TR)

Seufzer/Suspensions

TR (MC) Empfindsamkeit

RECAPITULATORY

(S)

Sequential

Imitation/Toccata Style

Compound Melody And Internal Pedal

Points

Fuxian Counterpoint and Suspensions

Sturm und

Drang/Brilliant

(ESC) Invertible Counterpoint

at the Octave

Sturm und

Drang/Brilliant

(CODA) Sequential Imitation Brilliant with Sturm und

Drang Interpolations

36

CHAPTER 3

ANALYSIS: PIANO SONATA IN C MINOR, K.457,

MOVEMENT 1

The first movement of the Piano Sonata in C Minor K. 457 has

traditionally been viewed as a work that exerted a great deal of influence upon

later composers. As Kinderman states, The C-minor Sonata, K. 457, is a

counterpart to Mozarts concerto in this key, K. 491, and, like the concerto, it

exerted a potent influence upon Beethoven (Kinderman 2006, 60). Yet even as

the clich of the works influence is repeated in the literature, discussion of the

actual characteristics of the sonata which influenced Beethoven (and the

associated concerto K. 491) is limited.11

Instead, tales of Beethovens insistence

upon the genius of the two works and brief comparisons of between key plans are

substituted.

Regardless of its legacy, amongst Mozarts works, this movement can be

understood as one of his most aggressively cerebral movements, programmed

with a thinly-veiled preference for the V.S. elements of imitation and inversion at

the center of its compositional focus. The romantic conception of the movement

will be shown to stem from its organic unity at the level of derivation of material,

and in its consistent application of topoi.

11

Several examples of existing Nancy Hager "The First Movements of Mozart's Sonata, K.457

and Beethoven's Opus 10 no. i: A C minor Connection?" Music Review 47 (1986-87) and William

S. Newman, "K.457 and Op. 13: Two Related Masterpieces in C Minor," Musk Review 28 (197),

38-44.

37

(P) Primary Theme

The movement begins with the Mannheim Rocket topic, which acts as

the head motive of the expository material. This Rocket will be troped,

expanded, and restated in increasingly urgent and disruptive ways throughout the

works 185 measures. Another V.S. concept is apparent in the imitation of the

opening Rocket and Seufzer gesture at the dominant. Diminished harmonies

answer tonic harmonies in the first statement (mm. 1-4), and tonic harmony

answers dominant/diminished harmonies in the second (mm. 5-8). This rhetorical

interplay of harmony suggests an inverse relationship of the statements, on top of

the repetition preference of the V.S. The passage presents a symmetry of forward

and backward relationa common technique in the music of J.S. Bach. Figure 1

illustrates the Rocket topic and rhetorical interplay.


Rocket figure and inversion theme.

Another V.S feature is immediately apparent in the texture, as Kinderman

relates, characterizing the first measures as a dialogic opposition between unison

gesture and soft, harmonized sigh-figures in a higher register (Kinderman

2006, 60). The Seufzer figure immediately joins inversion as elementary to this

movements use of V.S. topical content, and is one of the few topoi presented that

is given space to breathe. This space takes the form of continued characteristic

expansion in the Empfindsamkeit topic, with its preference for rhetorical pauses.

38

Immediately following the opening rhetorical gestures, further elements of

the V.S. topic are woven into the texture of the expository material as the pace

quickens. An initiating pedal point, itself a feature of the V.S., is employed as an

underlying murky bass accompaniment upon which a - and - suspension

chain begins. The suspension motive is pertinent not only as a V.S. feature, but

also because of the way in which it is employed. As part of a new contrapuntal

inversion gesture, the suspensions appear first above a passus duriusculus figure,

strikingly transposed to the dominant to suit the pedal, then below the same figure

displaced by an octave as Figure 2 shows.


Suspension chain and passus duriusculus over initiating pedal.

This portion of the thematic material is a clear example of the compounding of

multiple devices characteristic of the V.S. topic. The chromatically charged

Empfindsamer Stil of the passus duriusculus and internal rests add tension to a

rhythmically displaced Linear Intervallic Pattern (L.I.P.) of descending sixths. In

Mozarts hands, however, the three V.S. features expand a dramatic gesture built

upon dominant harmony via two V.S. mainstays: the Fuxian suspension chain and

invertible counterpoint at the octave.

6 5 4 3

39

With the resolution of the initial suspension chains of mm. 9-13, a new

suspension figure immediately appearsthis time a statement of the V.S.s -

Seufzer motive above the bass, which has diverged from the initiating pedal, as

Figure 3 shows.


Suspended Seufzer figure.

The Seufzer figures continue throughout the movement, typically repeated

at least once in close proximity, and throughout the third movement, contributing

to what Kinderman describes as a ...sense of despair or fatalistic resignation in

some of Mozarts C minor works (Kinderman 2006, 60). The (P) space of K.

457s first movement is therefore characterized by the troping, expansion, and

compounding of foundational V.S. elements with Empfindsamkeit, Sturm und

Drang, and Concerted topoi as elaborations.

(TR) Transition

Immediately following the harmonic resolution of the (P) spaces

suspension chains, a new and disruptive motivic imitation catalyzes a breakneck

modulation to the mediant key area in measures 19-22, surging away from the

implied restatement of the opening gestures. This is the first hint of an imitative

treatment of the Rocket topic motive, taking the form of a disruptive force

6 5

40

the first in a series of Rocket derived structural cues for the movement. Formal

delineation in the movement is therefore provided by stylized application of the

V.S. features of imitation and inversionthese V.S. features almost always

represent a disruptive force. Figure 4 displays the first of many further imitative

statements of the Rocket theme as a marker of disruption.


Transitional rocket figure and imitation.

Figure 18 also illustrates the tendency for the Rocket figure to appear with an

imitative repetition, reinforcing the (P) spaces initial rhetorical gesture.

In contemporary analytical terms, mm. 23-35 impede a conventional

understanding of this movements form.12 These measures are not recapitulated,

and only four measures of their content recur in the development section in

subdominant minor transposition. However, the singing style melody of mm. 23-

29 creates a topical link between the first and third movements a relationship

explored in chapter six. Measures 30-35 create a Post Medial Caesura (PMC),

12

As Hepokoski and Darcy state, The new theme brings new complications: while unprepared by any normative MC, it bears distinctly S-rhetoric as if one potential idea for S had been sprung too soon, within what is probably best regarded as TR-space. The whole passage is problematic

and involves an unanticipated swerve into expositional deformations (Hepokoski and Darcy 2011, 112) Another interpretation of this movement is to assert that the problematic S-rhetoric constitutes the first part of a MMS (Multi-Modular S) theme, or trimodular block. These analytical

choices do not add anything to a topical reading of the movement.

41

with strange and incomplete harmonies creating an urgent sense of ambiguity

which is washed away by the (S) theme proper.

(S) Secondary Theme

The (S) Space proper, understood to begin in m. 36, introduces more

directly dialogical content, akin to the call and response technique of the

Classical Period. It seems as if the troubles of the tonally ambiguous transition are

in the past until disruption occurs again at m. 44. As shown in Figure 5, a

progression related to the lament bass V.S. element creates a rhetorical tear in the

security of the E flat major mediant harmony.


Disruption via lament bass.

Following the disruption of mm. 44-45, compounded and expanded

further by the Empfindsamkeit half measure pause, the deceptive motion suggests

the imminent return of stable E flat major harmony, until progress is halted again

by a restatement of the lament figure an octave lower. This process follows

Gauldins conception of a Baroque preference for this kind of imitation, this time

even more despondent in its darker register, followed by the same pause (Gauldin

1988, 27). At measure 51, with mediant harmonys status now in question, a truly

remarkable Sturm und Drang expansion of supertonic minor harmony occurs over

42

the space of five measures in the form of a four-octave plummeting broken chord

figure poisoned with chromatic inflections (fig. 6).


Supertonic interpolation.

This rhetorical interpolation exists purely to further evade the resolution of mm.

47-48s deceptive motion to tonic harmony. Eventually when the PAC is reached,

it occurs in a registrally weak configuration in mm. 58-59, until a stronger

reiteration occurs at m. 66. The supertonic expansion is especially evocative of

the figuration and disruptive focus of elements of the Baroque fantasia.

The closing cadential elaboration consists of the creation and imitation of

a Brilliant Style series of runs, built upon a tonic pedal point, until a rhetorical

disruption occurs again, this time via the Rocket themes failed attempt at

finalizing E flat Major with a PAC, ending in a half cadence of the sonatas tonic

C minor. This rapid harmonic disruption serves a double role, as a half cadential

dominant to the (P) Space material for the repeat, and as half cadential for the

developmental restatement of the Rocket theme.

43

Developmental Space

The developmental space of K. 457 can be characterized by the almost

total dominance of the Rocket theme, with a number of Brilliant and Sturm und

Drang style topical expansions. An initial restatement occurs in mm. 75-78 in C

major and B flat diminished seventh harmonies, establishing a secondary

dominant for the aforementioned return of the problematic transitional theme in

F minor (Figure 7).

Figure

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